Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server

[GuillaumeB]

It's really easy to folow individual instrument lines - they don't 'smear' into one or the brain doesn't get distracted by lead instruments to the detriment of lesser ones. You can really feel the interplay between musicians. I feel there's more air and reverb going on too - the musicians are in a real physical space.

That's a brilliant description Rufus! That was exactly what the Entreq distributor said too. You can really "feel" the atmosphere in a live performance, it's not just about the typical hi-fi superlatives, better bass, better soundstage etc.

Picking up on a couple of points raised in this thread, yes I do think the d1 server is expensive and I would probably say (where practical) that it's important to get the foundations in place first, be it better speakers, cables (depending on your beliefs), power, grounding, room acoustics etc. For some it might make more sense to look at going dual mono first. But if you've got everything pretty much covered and are looking for an upgrade path then this is the real deal. As I said: Devialet on steroids! It's extraordinary.

I do think the Aries shouldn't be completely discounted though. It's highly likely that future firmware update will bring improvements to SQ. It has a lovely iPad control point and in some setups it might sound great. There is a lot to like about it's sound quality. Having said that the elephant in the room here is AIR. If sound quality is your most important criteria you might want to compare it to AIR before parting with any cash.

A final note on AIR. As we've been discussing in this thread and many others this seems to come in many different flavours. Wired, ethernet, different applications (Audirvana Plus, J River, iTunes etc). Even within the applications there are many different settings. I also found that improvements to network infrastructure and grounding made a difference here. There are no doubt improvements to be had from better power supplies and optimised software in the host computer. I know a couple on here have been startled by the effect of adding an AudioQuest Diamond ethernet cable to their network. In short there are lots of things one can do to optimise the sound of AIR and I'm sure it will only get better with future software updates. Indeed I was very surprised (and impressed!) at the improvement in the SQ of AIR between last year and more recently.

Right, I'm taking a break from testing and I'm going to enjoy the music. That's all folks!

Guillaume